With the recent return of naturally aspirated engines to the 718 Boxster and Cayman lineup, it has raised the question of whether or not Porsche will offer a turbo-free 911 Carerra. It could, considering its new 4.0-liter engine (currently found in the Cayman GT4, Boxster Spyder, Cayman GTS, and Boxster GTS) would be a good fit in theory, but there’s a lot more to it than that.

A Naturally Aspirated Porsche 911 Carrera Just Isn’t Feasible

To make the Porsche 911 Carrera naturally aspirated, Porsche would have to spend a lot of money on research and development. That 4.0-liter engine found in the 718 would have to be rotated by 180 degrees just for use in the rear of the 911. And, as it turns out, there’s actually a lot of desire for a naturally aspirated, road-going 911, and Porsche even admits it, but it’s just too much to handle.

In an interview with Autocar, Porsche’s Frank-Steffen Walliser straight-up admitted that it’s not really feasible:

the research and development costs are too high to develop such an engine for the Carrera.”>

Of course, if you really want a naturally aspirated Porsche 911, you could just pony up for the 911 GT3. The next 911 GT3 should debut in the next few months, and it will be free of any type of forced induction. Its successor, for that matter, will probably be naturally aspirated too. Porsche GT Division boss, Andreas Preuniger admitted that “Our philosophy in GT cars it to stay naturally aspirated.” So, you can expect, at the very least, for the GT3 to carry on turbo-free for some time to come. Otherwise, you might as well skip the 911 and god for the 718 instead.

In the same interview, we’ve also learned more about the Porsche 911 Hybrid,, so be sure to check that out as well.

2020 Porsche 911 specifications